Acoustic differences between lexical and epenthetic vowels in Lebanese Arabic

Traditionally, epenthetic vowels in Lebanese Arabic are transcribed [i], and are assumed to be acoustically indistinguishable from lexical [i]. A production experiment finds variation among speakers: some do produce the vowels identically, others produce a schwa-like epenthetic vowel that is categorically distinct from lexical [i], and others produce clouds of epenthetic and lexical vowel tokens that partially overlap.

► Lebanese Arabic epenthetic vowels were compared to lexical vowels. ► Some speakers produce the epenthetic and lexical vowels identically. ► Other speakers produce epenthetic and lexical vowels as categorically different. ► Other speakers produce a gradient, non-categorical difference.